Ryan, Amy Kathleen. Shadowfalls.

RYAN, Amy Kathleen. Shadowfalls. Random House, Delacorte. 216p. c2005. 0-385-73132-9. $15.95. JS *

Fifteen-year-old Annie lives in Denver but has spent her summers since childhood staying in the Grand Tetons with her older brother Cody and her grandfather. Grandfather taught Cody to climb like a salamander over mountain ledges, but held back on teaching Annie because she is a girl. Annie instead takes to photography, recording nature's panorama during her summer visits. Now Cody is dead, buried in an avalanche, and Annie has been forced out of bed and her depression to stay with her grandfather for the summer, this time alone in their small cabin. While resolutely abandoning photography (as symbolic of her ability to feel and grieve), she has also been pressured to baby-sit a little boy whose mother is confined to a mental hospital. On her first day in the mountains, Annie has a frightening encounter with a grizzly bear. She then finds out that this bear may be a powerful friend, "a great-grandfather" guide who marks her path at important intervals as she weaves through the process of grieving, forgiveness, acceptance, and reaching beyond herself to help others.

A varied cast of memorable characters, including Annie's rough-hewn and emotionally distant grandfather, a troubled child, and a boy her age who might be more than a friend, along with lyrical descriptions of nature, reinforces the themes of grief, love, loss, and healing. Myrna Marler, Assoc. Prof. of English, BYU, Provo, UT

J--Recommended for junior high school students. The contents are of particular interest to young adolescents and their teachers.

S--Recommended for senior high school students.

*--The asterisk highlights exceptional books.